Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle had many historic matches throughout the time their careers intersected in WWE and while the pair seem to have the utmost respect for each other now, they were yet another pair in wrestling’s history who had professional tension, though no outright heat. Many fans remember Lesnar’s botched shooting star press at WrestleMania 19 against Angle, where he almost severely injured himself, but there was another point where a match of theirs injured Angle. 

The Olympian spoke to Chris Van Vliet about it and said one of the most painful things he’s been through in the ring was when he “broke his neck” for the third time in a bout involving Lesnar when he hit him over the head with a chair. Angle explained that Lesnar “brought it” and went straight down on Angle’s head instead of swinging the chair sideways. He said he heard his neck crack, and his right arm went completely numb.

The pair also tussled backstage, but for a shoot wrestling match rather than a real fistfight. Angle spoke with Sports Illustrated in September 2023 and explained that he and Lesnar faced each other in a legitimate amateur-style wrestling bout backstage in 2002. Angle said he got the better of Lesnar, despite being the smaller man, due to his experience. While Lesnar has amateur experience as an NCAA Division One champion, Angle said there was a lot of difference between collegiate wrestling and winning a gold medal in the Olympics. The pair never got into a shoot fight following the match, and respected each other even more.